Tuesday, March 19, 2013

CSMU imbroglio: Pakatan promises review

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat will review the recognition of the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) if the opposition coalition forms the next federal government after the13th general election, which is just around the corner.

Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran, from DAP, said the opposition pact was concerned over the de-recognition of the CSMU.

“The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) has deliberately delayed coming out with their report after visiting the university regarding the recognition of CSMU. They visited the university in October 2012 after a cabinet directive but until now no report has been produced,” he claimed.

It is learnt that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had personally written to MMC asking the council to cite reasons for CSMU’s de-recognition.

“It is already five months. Still MMC is yet to send any report on the university’s recognition. The MMC, Health Ministry and the Higher Education Ministry are applying double standard in recognising CSMU,” he added.

He said in 2010, it took just weeks for MMC to give the green light to a local university, Lincoln University College (LUC), to run offshore programmes in three universities in Ukraine.

The three universities were Ternopil State Medical University, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University and Ivano Frankivsk National Medical University.

“But why are they taking such a long time in the case of CSMU. LUC is the only local university to get approval to run offshore programmes in unrecognised universities,” added Manogaran.

The decision to allow LUC to conduct programmes has left parents fuming as LUC stands to rake in millions by just being an intermediary.

It was reported that the actual cost of completing a medical degree in Ukraine is between RM120,000 and RM130,000. But with Lincoln being the intermediary, the price will now escalate to nearly RM200,000.
According to Manogaran, there are 44 public and private medical universities in Malaysia which gave first priority to Malays.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai meanwhile has ensured that Chinese students were not left out in the medical field by applying for recognition of 11 medical universities in China.

It is reported all the universities are in the final stages of gaining Malaysian government recognition.

“So, who is going to be responsible for the future of Indian students in the medical field,” Manogaran questioned

The derecognition of CSMU became an issue a few years ago after MIC and other Indian-based organisations demanded that the government reinstate the university as a recognised university due to the high number of Malaysian Indian students studying there.

Despite this, MMC gave various excuses over the derecognition.

Nearly 1,000 Malaysian students of Indian origin had graduated from the university since 1997 until it was dropped from the list of recognised universities by the MMC in June 2005.